


Godric’s Hollow, 1989

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Angst and Tragedy, Canonical Character Death, Child Harry Potter, Female Harry Potter, Gen, Gender or Sex Swap, Genderbending, Genderswap, My First Harry Potter Fic So Be Gentle, Not my usual, Would Hurt A Child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:20:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23777509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: In a world where the Boy Who Lived was a girl, Voldemort attacks Godric Hollow in a different year. The results are no less devastating.
Relationships: Harry Potter & James Potter, Harry Potter & Lily Evans Potter, Harry Potter & Voldemort, Rubeus Hagrid & Harry Potter, Sirius Black & Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen





	Godric’s Hollow, 1989

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Gender Swap
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Warnings: Major Character Death, Would Hurt A Child

As far as Jamie Potter knows, she's always lived in Godric’s Hollow.   
  
It’s a cozy place, she’ll say that. Loving too. She can tell that Mum and Dad love her dearly, even though they do act strangely. Panicking when she ventures too far. Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail also love her, and she grows up happy.   
  
It’s a sheltered life. Jamie knows that, even as a child. She supposes it’s for the best, especially considering the nameless monster who lurks outside.   
  
***  
  
Jamie is nine years old when the monster attacks.   
  
It’s Halloween night, and Jamie’s staying in. She won’t deny that she hates having to stay in, even if it also means getting to watch some of Dad’s favorite Wizarding Halloween movies. “Better you get to them now than never, little doe,” James says, and he ruffles her hair. Jamie crinkles her nose, but she doesn’t mind. Not really. She loves her father, and her mother, even if they are strange in their rules. (She supposes Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are nice too, even if their relationship with both her parents is strained. Jamie doesn’t know why) She just wishes that The Monster wasn’t around, so that she could go trick-or-treating with Padfoot or anyone.   
  
So she’s staying in, dressed as a princess (it’s a costume from Aunt Petunia. Jamie supposes she isn’t all bad, even if she and Mum are at odds with each other for some reason), watching the telly while her mother checks the charms and the locks. They have a Fidelius shielding the house, but Jamie knows Mum's scared of anything breaking through that would harm them. Still, Jamie doubts it. Aunt Batty’s nice; she’s actually said Jamie will be an “old time beauty” when she grows up. (Dad joked to Batty that Jamie would be a warrior like her mum, and everyone laughed but Jamie. Jamie hopes she can be like Mum, at least)  
  
It's when Jamie’s watching one of the Beedle adaptations that she feels her father freeze beside her.   
  
“Dad?” she says.   
  
“Jamie.” Dad pauses the TV and turns to her. “Little doe.” He sounds more frightened than he’s ever been. “It’s him.”  
  
“The monster?”  
  
“Yeah,” Dad says. “Jamie, listen to me. Go with your Mum, hide. I’ll hold him off.”  
  
“But Dad!” Jamie’s still ten and not quite aware of the situation. “I wanna fight him off too!”  
  
“You don’t. You’re just a kid. Jamie, run!”  
  
Jamie springs to her feet even as the door slams down and Lily scoops her up. Jamie can see him — a man, hooded, but he’s not a man, not really; something about his features seems melted and horrible...  
  
Lily runs. Jamie struggles against her, even as Lily tries muttering soothingly to her.   
  
Dad’s downstairs. Jamie turns around, and it’s there that she sees a stag, struggling against the man in black. That’s before Lily orders Jamie to turn away.  
  
***  
  
There’s a flash of green light downstairs, and a shout that Jamie can’t quite decipher. Judging from her mother’s sob, Jamie knows something awful’s happened to Dad, they have to get to him, but Mum says, “Jamie, just focus on getting upstairs...the Portkey...”  
  
The monster’s gaining on them. Faster, faster. The billowing black cloak, the eyes — they’re not human eyes; they’re monster eyes — Mum reaches Jamie’s room. Their cat, Churchill (Jamie named him that, after Mum taught her about Muggle historical figures), has already fled — did he sense the monster?   
  
Mum mutters something to lock the door. She puts Jamie down, sighs in relief. “We just need — ”  
  
The door blasts open.   
  
Jamie screams. Lily jumps in front of her. "Don’t hurt her,” she says. “Not Jamie. She’s just a baby.”  
  
“Stand aside, girl.” Even that voice doesn’t sound human. It’s too high, too cold.   
  
The monster shouts, “Reducto!” and the Portkey’s blown to pieces.   
  
“I said,” says the monster, “Stand aside, girl."  
  
“Her name’s not ‘girl'!” Jamie cuts in. Even though she’s terrified of the monster, she won’t deny that she’d do anything to keep her Mum from being hurt. Even insulted, basically.   
  
“Shut up!” the monster hisses. “You dare talk back to Lord Voldemort, you squealing whelp?”  
  
 _Voldemort._ The monster does have a name. There’s been so many people scared to say it. Jamie knows they’re so terrified of him that they’d do whatever they can to avoid saying it. Like he’s a nameless fear.   
  
“I dare,” Jamie says. “Please don’t hurt my mum; she didn’t do anything wrong.”  
  
The monster seems contemplative. Then, "I am a man of my word. I told Severus as much. You’ve been a nuisance for way too long, whelp.” He raises his wand. _“Avada Kedavra.”_  
  
Mum flings herself into the line of fire. The green light hits her in the chest, and Jamie screams.   
  
Voldemort aims his wand at her. And somehow, impossibly, just as Jamie’s closing her eyes and expecting the worst...  
  
She hears a howl. She opens her eyes, watches as the rebounded killing curse seems to tear Voldemort apart from the inside. She stares, uncomprehending, wondering who exactly did this...  
  
And the house collapses.   
  
***  
  
She comes to. There’s a man, a giant — a literal giant — holding her as he carries her out of the ruins of the house. Her house.   
  
“What happened?” She sounds a bit woozy to her own ears.   
  
“Easy now.” The giant’s voice is soothing, gentle. “Yer lucky yer alive. Except fer that cut — wha’ happened ter yeh, Jamie?”  
  
“He killed my mum and dad,” Jamie rambles. “He killed my mum and dad and tried to kill me, and — and I couldn’t protect them — ”  
  
“Don’t,” the giant says. “It’s not yer fault. The man who did this ter yeh is a monster. How he got in, I have no idea...”  
  
Jamie snuggles up inside the giant’s jacket. “Is he gone?” she says.   
  
“Yes. Yeh beat him. Yeh beat him back.”  
  
She should feel proud, beating him back. Instead, Jamie would do anything to have her Mum and Dad back.   
  
“Hagrid!”  
  
Padfoot. He practically sprints across the street towards Jamie and Hagrid, and the way he looks — he looks broken. So broken.   
  
It makes Jamie wish there was something she could do.   
  
“Oh Merlin,” Sirius murmurs. “The little doe...is she all right?”  
  
“He killed Mum and Dad,” Jamie says. She’s shaking, threatening to burst into tears right this moment. “He killed them both.”  
  
“I know.” Sirius’ voice cracks. “What happened to your head, little doe — you’re bleeding!”  
  
Jamie swallows. Maybe it’s an aftereffect of the house falling on her. Maybe.   
  
Sirius puts dittany on it. It stings, but there’s worse things than stuff like that. Jamie knows it.   
  
“Hagrid,” Sirius says, “I can take care of her.”  
  
“ ‘M sorry, but Dumbledore says the Muggles will take care of her...”  
  
They argue for a bit before Jamie says, “Why can’t I go with Padfoot?”  
  
“Dumbledore’s orders.”  
  
Sirius sighs. “They’ll look after you, little doe. Just...”  
  
He hands her something. A stuffed dog. Jamie takes it, snuggles it close; it’s the best thing that will give her comfort now.   
  
“I have work to do,” Sirius says grimly. “I’ll be back. You...I love you, Jamie. Like the daughter I never had. And don’t you doubt what you’ve done. You were a brave girl, and you drove the monster away. I know that.”  
  
Jamie can take comfort in that, even as Sirius smooths away red hair from her face — her mother’s hair. People said she looked like her mother with her father’s eyes. Jamie hopes she can be as brave as them someday.   
  
Sirius runs off. He leaves his flying motorbike behind, for Hagrid and Jamie.   
  
“Will they like me?” Jamie says shyly. “My Muggle family?”  
  
“It’ll be impossible ter not like yeh, Jamie.”  
  
And yet, somehow, Jamie wonders, even as Hagrid secures her in the motorbike and gets on the seat, if it’s just a lie — a lie to make a little girl feel better in a world like this.


End file.
